Razor



March 15, 1932.

J. C. SHERMAN rmzon Filed Oct. 22, 1929 ZZZ/W751 (71% Lfiemm mil:

- Patented Mar. 15, 1932 "UNITED STATES com: c. ,or GOBBAI, mum:

mzoza- Appllcation filed October 88,

This invention relates to improvements in a safety razor and blades therefor. One'of the most well-known and widely used razors on the market is made of three separate pieces which when in use are secured together to clamp a blade in place. The task of removing a used blade after a shave is 'messy and somewhat dangerous owin to the necessity of handling the two-edged lade and the consequent liability of the blade to slip and cut the operators' fingers. According to the present invention, a razor and a lade are provided whichare so connected that a blade I can be readily picked. up by and released from the razor without being touched by the .operators fingers. The usual structure of a razor of the type referred to includes a guard with a hollow shank attached at right angles thereto, a cap adapted to be drawn against the guard so as to clam a blade between it and the guard, and an e on'gated cylindrical v nut ada ted to extend through the hollow shank or threaded engagement with a threaded stud'projecting from the plate that by rotation of the nut, the plate is drawn against the guard. Accordin to the invention the guard and shank may so modified in structure as to permit a blade to be held firmly but releasably in contact with the face so of the guard without the aid of the plate. To this end 'a'pair'of gripping elements which may take the form of small hooks or catches, may be mounted in the guard to project from a the face thereof. These gripping elements are inovable a small distance toward each otherso as to enter a pair of apertures inthe blade-which are so spaced that when the said elements move away from each other to their normal distance .a art, they engage on the mutually remote si esof the apertures. The remote sides of the a rtures preferably have V I a \V-shape or its equivalentso that the gripping elements are wedged in the converging 6 sides of the V,;.and hold ,the blade firmly against side play;

To. facilitate mutu al approaching movement by the grippingelements, the guard itself maybe in two partsseparated by a transverse slot which extends a suflicient distance up the shank to permit an operator to a 1mserial no. wiser.

pinch the parts of the guard together against the resilience of the split shank to permit the gripping elements to enter or leave the apertures in the blade which are designedto receive them.

For a more complete disclosure of the invention reference may be had to the description thereof which follows, and to the illustration thereof on the accompanying drawin of which,

igure 1 is a perspective view of the guard and shank portions of a razor embodying the invention.

Figure 2 is a blade adapted the shanks shown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of aeap for use with the parts shown in Figure 1. v

V Figure 4 is'a perspective view of apackage of razor blades. I

Figure 5 is a section on line 5-5 of Figure 1.

' Figure 6 is a section of the guard and :1, blade showing the parts of the guard sprung toward each other to engage or release the blade. Y Figure 7 is similar to Figure 6, but with the ca fialso shown in section. eferring to the drawings in, detail, Figures 1, 2 and 3 illustrate a razor embodyin the invention, this razor having the genera construction of a well known type 0 safegy razor, the component parts of which inclu e a guard plate 10 to which is permanently secured a hollow shank 11. The guard plate 10, as shown,- may be somewhat curved so that 35 its lower face has a surface in the form of a segment of a cylinder or otherwise sha d for use with 05 aardesired. A wafer blade- 12 isadapte to be sprung slightly about the curved face of the guard 10 by a cap '13 clamped tightly between the guard 10 an the cap 13jin a manner well known in the art. To this end a cylindrical nut 14 extends downwardly through the hollow shank'll. the upper end of the nut being provided with a knurled head or finger-plece 15, the lower end being threaded engagement with aportion of the cap 13. As shown, this threaded en gement may be between a threaded stu 16 permanently secured to the the blade being upper face of the cap 13 and the interiorly threaded lower end portion of the nut 14, as shown in Figure 7. The cap 13 may also be provided with a pair of pins or studs 17 projecting from its upper face and adapted-to pass through a corresponding pair of perforations 18 in the guard 10, this being for the purpose of holding the blade12 properly alined with the guard when clamped in place. When the parts of the razor are being assembled, the studs 17 serve to guide the cap 13 into'correct alinementwith the guard. The blade itself is provided with suitable perforations 19, 20, 21 through which the pins 17 and the stud 16 maypass.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide means by which the blade 12 may be gripped and firmly held in place adjacent,

to the lower face of the guard 10 when the cap 13 is not assembled therewith. To this end a pair of gripping elements or catches 22, which may be hooked as shown are mounted so as 'to project downwardly from the lower face of the guard 10. As shown in Figure 5, each gripping element may take the form of a knob 22 with a recess 23 adapted to engage the side walls of a suitable perforation 24 through the blade 12 after the head of the knob 22 has been passed through the perforation. For convenience ofmanufacture, the knob 22 may be riveted to the guard 10, or may be otherwise fastened thereto as by welding or soldering. As shown in Figure 2, a pair of perforations 24 are shown to receive a corresponding pair of catches 22 which are mounted on the guard 10.

-the two catches 22 which are carried respectively by the guard portions. The holes 24 in the blade 12 are suitably spaced so as to receive the catches 22 only when they are made to approach each other as by pinching the guard sections together or by pressing downwardly upon the knurled head of the nut 14, so as to cause downward pressure upon the hollow shank 11 and guard 10, thereby causing the curved surfaces of the catches 22 to press against the edge of the apertures or perforations 24 and thus spring the hollow shank as when squeezed by the users fingers. The lower end portion of the nut 14-may be tapered as shown in Figure 7 to permit the split shank portions to be sprung toward each otherwhile the nut is in the shank. Due

to the "resilience of the split end portions of spring back to normal position when released.

This brings the catches into firm engage-- ment with the mutually remote walls of the two holes 24 which form V-notches, these portions of the Walls catching against the necks 23 of the respective catches 22 with a wedging engagement. Thisensures a firm grip on the blade and prevents any looseness or play thereof when held by the catches 22. Thus the blade is held firmly but releasably adjacent to the lower face of the guard 10. By pinching the'split end portion of the shank 11, as shown in Figure 6, the blade may readily be released and will drop clear of the guard. A blade may readilybe picked up by the guard without being touched by the fingersiof the operator, this being accomplished by pinchingthe split end portion'of the shank and inserting the catches 22 through the holes 21, then permitting the catches to spring back to their normal position and thus to come into firm wedging engagement with the walls of the holes 24. This wedging engagement may \be otherwise accomplished by the user in pressing downwardly upon the "knurled head of the nut 14. If the blade to be picked up is lying on a flat surface, the surface should be recessed beneath the apertures 24 to permit the catches 22 tov project below the blade. The guard and blade held thereby may then be placed on the cap13, and the nut 14 may be rotated to draw the cap 13 into clamping engagement with the guard 10, the blade 12 being be-- tween these two members, as shown in F igure 7. A pair of suitable holes or recesses 26 maybe formed in the upper face of the cap 13 to receive the ends .of the catches which project below the blade and thus to permit the cap 13 to be drawn up tightly against the blade 12 and the guard 10.

To facilitate the insertion of a new blade in the razor, the blades may be supplied in a convenient ackage, as illustrated in Figure 4, this pac age comprising a succession of blades having fiber spacing elements 27 alternating therewith. These elements may be pressed or molded into shape with rectangular recesses 28 in each face thereof to receive the blades. The spacers are also preferably perforated as at 29', these perforations-being 1n registry. with the perforations 24' of the plates, so that when the catches 22 are in serted through the holes 24, there will be nothing. to prevent their the bottom of the blade. 1

While Ihave described and illustrated a package of blades particularly adapted for application Serial Nb, 438,804, filed March The razor may be operated as). follows: By

projecting below 4 pinching the lower portion of the shank 11 or by pressing downwardly upon the knurled head of the nut 14, the catches 22 are moved sufiiciently toward each other to permit them to pass through the apertures 24 of a blade 12. Thus a fresh blade may be picked up from the top of a blade package such as shown in Figure 4. The blade is thus held firmly adjacent to the lower face of the guard 10. The guard and blade are then placed on the cap 13 and the handle 15 is rotated to draw the cap 13 into tight clamping engagement with the blade 12 and the guard 10.

The razor is now ready for a shaving operation, after which the cap 13 may be released by unscrewing the nut 14. After the cap 13 is removed, the guard and blade may be held over a suitable receptacle for used blades, whereupon by pinching the lower portion of the shank, the blade will fall into the receptacle. Thus the blade may be inserted and discharged without being touched by the fingers of the operator.

I claim:

1. A safety razor comprising a guard, a cap, a blade, means for holding said blade releasably adjacent to said guard, and means for drawing said cap toward said guard to clamp the blade therebetween, said blade hav ing a pair of spaced perforations each including a V-notch, said guard having a pair of spaced catches movable toward each other against a resilient force to enter said perforations and to spring back into wedging engagement with said V-notches.

2. A safety razor comprising a guard, a hollow shank permanently secured to said guard and extendin from the upper face thereof, an elongate nut ada ted to extend through said shank, a cap having a threaded element for threaded engagement with said nut and adapted to be drawn against said guard, said guard and shank having a transverse slot therein bisecting said guard and dividing the shank for a substantial portion of its length, a pair of catches secured to the lower face of said guard, and a blade having a pair of apertures therethrough to receive said catches when the two sections of the guard are moved" toward each other, said apertures each includin a V-notc'h to receive one of said catches in wedging engagement when the catch' moves "outwardly to normalrelative positiom 3. A safety razor comprising a guard, a cap, a blade, means for ipping and holdin said blade releasably a jacent to said guarf means for drawingsaid ca toward said guard to clamp the blade there tween, and means for positioning the blade when clamped, said gripping means including a pair of elements substantially spaced apart and relativel movable in the plane of.the blade to grip perforations to receive said clamping means and positioning means, said blade also having edge portions shaped and located for engagement by said gripping elements.

4. A safety razor com rising a blade, means for positioning the bla e therein, and means for picking up a blade includin a pair of,

blade-gripping elements substantlally spaced 5. A safety razor comprising a blade, a.

guard, a cap, meanson said cap for ositioning a blade in the razor, and means or picking up a blade including apair of bladegripping elements mounted on said guard and relatively movable in the plane of the blade, said blade being perforated to receive said positioning means and being also provided with edge portions shaped and located for engagement by said gripping elements.

6. A safety razor blade having a pair of perforations to receive blade-positioning means of a razor, a perforation to receive a clamping member of the razor, and a pair of perforations formin internal edge ortions shaped and located or engagement 8y gripping elements on the razor;

7. A safety razor blade perforated to receive therethrough blade-positioning means and a clamping member on a razor, said blade also having a air of perforations each forming internal e ge portions converging toward the adjacent end of the blade and so spaced as to be engaged by blade-grip ing elements on the razor when the bla e-positioning means is received by the blade.

8. A safety razor blade having a pair of perforations, each of which includes a V notch located and arranged'for wedging en- III gagement with a blade-gripping element on a razor, said blade also aving a'central perforation to receive a clamping member on said razor.

9. A safety razor blade having perforations to receive blade-positioning means of a razor, said blade also having a air of rforations which include opposite exten ing V-notches located and arranged fiir wedging engagement with a pair of blade-gripping elements. on the razor which are relatively movable in the plane of the blade,

In testimony whereof I have afiixed my signature.

JOHN o; SHERMAN; 

